Friday, July 25, 2008

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Last week I got an iPhone. I meant to post about it, but they had me doing lots of real work at both of my jobs. Can you believe that shit? Today I'm operating the Pratt campus switchboard, which somehow gives me more spare time between dealing with disgruntled parents that seem to think I'm the enemy. It was my first foray into the whole Apple deal really...I avoided Apple mainly because of friends who never stop babbling about the "Apple experience". Well, whatever...this thing works like a dream.

More importantly, my laptop broke over the weekend. The backlight went out and Dell is going to charge 530 dollars to get it repaired. Sweet Jesus that's wrong! So, next week I'm buying a MacBook...if my friends keeping them forever is any indication, it'll at least last longer. Back to regular posting next week, when I'm sure to make numerous posts about having sex with my new laptop. Hot.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

That's a picture of the crowd at the last Studio B show I went to in February (via some dude's flickr). Pretty horrifying, right? That's because the Teenagers were playing (I came for the Hot Chip DJ set, I swear), so all the under-21s came down to Greenpoint in their finest asshole gear. See, it's really hard for me to go to shows like this because I want to punch everyone ever in the face. As I've said before, the same goes for a Girl Talk show. Then again, the more I thought about it, the more I realized every sort of event I go to has a crowd I hate.

-Free, Public Events: Children, moochers. I rant about children too much so I'll save it. Moochers are usually similar to the people you find at rock shows, mainly in that they're looking to act poor by going to free stuff since their trust funds will only carry them so far!

Lately, there's been a disturbing trend where my friends and I can't seem to enjoy ourselves because of the crowd around us. Are we embarrassed to be seen with them? Is it just a case of hating bad manners? Either way, it's probably unhealthy to get so worked up about it. If some douchebag waving his hands around for five minutes to find a friend, or a literary dude tries really hard to suck up to Nam Le, does it change the movie I'm watching, the band I'm seeing? It shouldn't, but it does.

Another thing I should be keeping in mind is that I'm probably focusing on a small portion of the crowd. Others may resemble the people I hate so much, but for the most part people go out to have a good time. Maybe I should try that part out again and quit acting like a cranky old man. What do you think? Get off my lawn!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

It's fun to shit on Clinton Hill now that I don't live there. Good lordy, so much crime these days! I mean, obviously that's not funny, especially since I share many mutual friends with one of the victims mentioned and I'll probably find myself standing for long periods late at night waiting for the bus in the near future. Still! This is what happens when there's a sudden, insane rich-poor divide in a pseudo-trendy neighborhood. Then again, something similar to this happened two years ago. Cops/security will be upped for a few weeks and then we'll get back to some good ol' crime sprees. I bet the solution is to build more condos.

In other Pratt-related news, yesterday was interesting day to be at work between the filming of Fringe, the new J.J. Abrams show. No celebrity sightings. Just lots of catering trucks and camera equipment. The Pre-College students also arrived yesterday. I'm tempted to say you're a pretty negligent parent if you let your little teenager hang out in Brooklyn for a few weeks though. Maybe I should have handed out that Gothamist writeup to the confused parents trying to get home to Jersey. Also, I saw two hideous young mainstream-alt kids leaving the library, where they apparently asked for MetroCards. I guess I would have killed to be them in high school. Now I just want to kill them. Let's start a farm somewhere.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Would the hot dog eating contest be so popular if it didn't take place in the sporting doldrums? It'd probably still have a bit of awesomely retarded hysteria (which I witnessed in person with around 40,000 people), but it definitely benefits from the weird stretch between the NBA/NHL finals and the start of the NFL season (or the start of the Summer Olympics this year). However, there have been a surprising amount of exciting sporting events if you look hard enough.EURO 2008: This turned out to be surprisingly intense. Everyone should have been rooting for Turkey, who still lost despite THE POWER OF THE FANS. Also, technical glitches made everyone mad and big plays were missed. Weak sauce.

Tiger vs. Rocco: I hate golf, but hot damn, this was interesting. The old standby in a playoff against the smiling fat guy! Whooo!

Federer vs. Nadal last night: epic! Really long! But still, that's awesome. Maybe this will be a classic Sampras-Agassi rival in the future? Who knows.

Who the fuck am I kidding? I don't like tennis or golf! I wouldn't even bat an eye if this stuff happened during two of the most epic championship series' in recent memory? Hell no! EURO is about the only thing that's been passably interesting. I couldn't even make it to low-stakes baseball games! I guess I'll take what I can get, and so will the rest of America. Getting drunk and debating sports is what brings most people together. Where would we be if we didn't have that for the next two months? There's also the fact that baseball is pretty boring. The Tour de France is in effect, but is it worth watching is Lance Armstrong isn't competing? WE CAN FIND A WAY.

Friday, July 4, 2008

It's the Fourth of July. I'm going to eat and drink my weight in hot dogs and sangria at Coney Island, and hopefully finding a way to blast this awesome new Walkmen album. Kobayashi better throw up again.The Walkmen - On the Water

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Taken from the side of the road near the top of Sonoma Mountain. Sadly this beautiful mountain is completely fenced in and blanketed with No Trespassing signs and covered with multi-million dollar homes and vineyards, occupied by selfish, rich, yuppy assholes. The best views in all of Petaluma can be found on this mountain, but apparently only the wealthy are allowed to enojoy these views. - Josh Sommers

That was one of the first results when I did a Google image search of "rich asshole".

Last week I started freaking out a lot after reading this thing Gawker wrote. Basically it's really hard to get a job in publishing/media in New York (duh) because most of the desired jobs and internships go to the sons and daughters of rich, connected assholes (again, duh). So I guess those are the main options to get a job, which is depressing but maybe a little encouraging at the same time. After thinking about it, I guess I'm not as worried as some because of the whole "New York advantage" (vomit).I don't think I've taken either of myinternships thinking "oh gee, this will look great on my resume"...I applied to both because I was passionate about them and the things they're doing. In retrospect, sure it might prepare for a job of some sort. Now, I'm just a little wary of the publishing industry as a result of my APS internship. This is mainly because of the social aspect of it all, ie people not wanting to acknowledge your existence at a party or dinner function if you're a lowly intern or editorial assistant. Fuck you and your $40k/year job, you monstrous bastard! Wow, where did that come from? I might still look for publishing jobs, but I'm a little nervous about it. I love literature, I love books, I love reading and writing. But will that be something I do on my own terms, my own time? It probably will, and it won't pay me a cent. Not that I should care.I guess I felt better thinking about the Gawker thing since I now have clips that aren't fiction or stupid humor things thanks to Flavorpill. I write about things of all sorts, in short bursts! And frankly, I'm liking it a lot. I'm even starting to get interested in freelancing despite being unsure of what to write about (thus,blogging). It's been a good excercise, and a lot less soul-crushing than writing for Brijit was.Some recent ones:The Hold SteadyWet Hot American SummerDevoShearwaterI graduate in a year. Maybe I should hold off on worrying for a few months longer. Look out for that future nervous breakdown post!No Age - It's Oh So Quiet (Bjork Cover)

So after a weekend of heavy duty moving, Sharon and I decided to see Wall-E. This is only the second summer movie we've seen after an overdue viewing of Iron Man a couple of weeks ago. This was our event film - after all, we love robots, and I'm probably the only person that considers Short Circuit 2 to be a classic. But let me be the last to heap praise on this film: Wall-E is fucking incredible.It almost feels like an adult movie, but I'm sure kids would agree. Pixar reminds me of the Jim Henson Company only in that they both created timeless children's movies that appeal to adults without resorting to retarded baby boomer jokes that make me nauseous. There's no one winking at the adults or the kids. My heart kind of melts whenever Wall-E does anything sad or, well, human. Some might say this is a distraction from a movie that is light on plot and high on spectacle. You know what? That's OK, because IT WORKS. Any more plot and the film would have started leaking with holes. Any less spectacle and one might say there's no damn point to putting robots in space.Pixar's films are always good for instilling a sense of hope in us, that we might be able to dream bigger and make the world a better place. The movie studio that most represents Obama? Probably not. But you know, anyone that wants to rid the world of fat people and corporations that don't already own their souls is alright by me. It looks like Pixar will continue the trend of ambitious, challenging movies next year with UP!, which is about an old man finally going on adventures. Neat-o!This is Ivy League - Love is Impossible